Kuukausi: maaliskuu 2024

#1873 Moonstruck (1987)

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I usually don’t force the family into watching the 80s movies – this is purely my personal project – but as they wished something lighthearted for the Saturday night and Moonstruck was available on Prime I decided to go with it as I hadn’t yet seen the movie myself.

And how wrong could it go? After all the movie stars Cher, Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis and Nicolas Cage, and was nominated to six academy awards, winning in three, bagging her first Oscar. But, we all found the movie to be a bit of a bore. Everyone seems to be quite tired in what they do and the pace of life is tediously slow. Not only does the love affair between Cher and Cage feel contrived, but so it the former relationship with Danny Aiello’s character, as is how Aiello handles the climatic twist at the end. Artificiality aside, there’s only one small romance – that of the mother – that evokes any emotions.

Also the humour did not really find its target (although the setup could have lent itself to many delicious comedy situations), and the best laughs you can get out of this movie is Aiello forgetting his suitcases for three times in a row.

80s-o-meter: 85%

Total: 41%

#1872 Full Moon in Blue Water (1988)

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I love it when a movie gets the mood right. Love it to bits.

Such is the case with Full Moon in Blue Water, a small drama comedy taking place in Texas Gulf Coast on a small, worn out Diner bar run by Floyd (Gene Hackman). Floyd has lost his wife and the will to go on with his life, and remains unwelcoming to Louise (Teri Garr), who sees something in this stubborn old man. Seeings these two clash before coming together would have been more than enough in the right hands to create a solid romantic comedy, but for some reason the writer Bill Bozzone insists on adding unrelated twists to the story in the form of a dim-witted janitor two messes up bad, and then messes up even worse trying to cover the mess.

Even with the apparent problems with the writing, Full Moon in Blue Water is a movie that invites one the share a moment with the people at the Blue Water Grill. And that moment felt too brief, as I could have hanged around just a little bit longer.

80s-o-meter: 87%

Total: 77%

#1871 Another Chance (1988)

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A womaniser has everything, wants more, and ultimately loses everything in a fly weight comedy Another Chance.

On top of being quite easy to watch, the movie portrays it main character as a soap opera star, whose life (and the whole movie) becomes a soap opera of sorts. The plot includes one too many dream sequences, but other than that Another Chance is not a bad way to spend 90 (brainless) minutes with.

80s-o-meter: 87

Total: 65%

#1870 Tricks of the Trade (1988)

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I had consciously decided to exclude made-for-TV movies from my reviews (partly because many of them lack posters), but this one inadvertently escaped my notice—and, surprisingly, I was quite content that it did.

Tricks of the Trade stands out as one of the superior made-for-TV movies, where the constraints of a limited budget aren’t glaringly obvious, presenting a film that holds its own among B-list ’80s comedies. The narrative also has compelling elements: a seemingly perfect Beverly Hills marriage comes to a shocking end when the husband is murdered while visiting his secret prostitute girlfriend. Now facing danger, the unlikely duo joins forces to unravel the mystery.

The plot cleverly twists the classic cop movie trope, pairing two vastly different characters forced to tolerate each other and collaborate to outsmart the villains. For the most part, this dynamic is effective. However, there was potential for this to be developed into a theatrical release with somewhat sharper writing and I felt the writers didn’t fully exploit the comedic opportunities presented by the contrasting backgrounds of the two leads. As a result, the humour only hit the mark half of the time for me.

80s-o-meter: 90%

Total: 75%

#1869 Smorgasbord aka Cracking Up (1986)

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Before Jim Carrey’s rise to fame, I often heard comparisons how Jerry Lewis was the true monarch of physical comedy. Upon watching some of Lewis’ work online, however, I remained unconvinced and thus was not particularly eager to delve into his comedies from the 1980s.

As it turned out, my experience with Smorgasbord (or Cracking Up as it’s more widely known) was even more disappointing than anticipated. The film showcases Lewis in a series of physical mishaps, including a prolonged scene where he comically struggles to get up on a sofa, occupying what feels like most of the movie’s running time.

The remainder of the film is peppered with disjointed, lackluster gags that seem to bear no relevance to the overarching narrative.

80s-o-meter: 60%

Total: 7%